Cabinet-file



(No Model.) v

G. H. BESLY 81; T. J. SULLIVAN.

CABINET FILE.-

Y Patented Nov. 112, 1895] UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. BESLY AND TIMOTHY J. sULLIvAN, or CHICAGO, ILLINoIs.

CABINET-FILE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 549,881, dated November 12, 1895.

Application filed March 4:, 1895.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, CHARLES H. BEsLY and TIMOTHY J. SULLIVAN, residents of Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cabinet-Files; and we do hereby declare that the following'is afull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to cabinet-files for the filing of letters and other papers.

The object of the invention is to provide a construction in cabinet-files which permits the use in the cabinet itself, for the current reception of letters or papers as they are received from day to day, of permanent filingcases, the latter being detachable from the cabinet-drawers, so that when full they may be bodily removed Without disturbing their contents and directly put away among permanent files. The proposed construction permits other such filing-cases to be quickly put in the places of those removed from the cabinet, to be themselves similarly filled and finally removed. By this means the papers, as currently received, are doubly protected from dust, because inclosed within the filingcase, which is itself inclosed within the cabinet, the trouble and delay of shifting the papers from the fixed file in the cabinet to a permanent filing-case is avoided and the expense of providing the cabinet-drawers with special and fixed filing devices is obviated.

The invention will be f ullyunderstood from the following description of the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one form in which said invention may be embodied:

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a small cabinet containing six drawers. Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating one of the drawers detached and provided with a detachable filing-case of a preferred construction. Fig. 3 is a top view of a drawer and of filing-case detachably secured to the drawer, as shown in perspective in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail in perspective, showing a fragment of one of the cabinet-drawers provided with a certain form of device by which the filing box or case may be in part detachably retained upon or within the drawer.

serial No. 540,539. (No model.)

Fig. 5 is atop view illustrating a portion of a drawer and a portion of a filing-case applied thereto, the filing-case being made open to reveal the indexed separating-sheets therein contained. Fig. 6 illustrates one convenient and simple form of means for detachably holding the filing-case to the cabinet-drawer. Fig. 7 is a top view illustrating a drawer and a filing-case thereto attached, the filing-case being, in this instance, shown to open sidewise with reference to the front of the cabinet-drawer instead of toward the' drawerfront.

A illustrates the cabi-net-case and B B the drawers thereof. The case A is a full inclosure, except that it is open at its front to receive any desired number of drawers B B Each of these drawers B comprises a front 15 and a bottom B and it may have two additional sides, but it must be open at one side in order to permit opening of the filing-case, as will further appear.

O is a filing-case, which is a complete box or inclosure having one side 0, which drops on a hinge c, and a top or cover 0 hinged, say, at c. This box or filing-case G will usually be made of strawboard with a suitable paper covering; but it maybe made of any suitable material. The cover 0 is desirably provided with a marginal flange or rim c ,which shuts over the dropping side 0 to hold the latter closed, and a catch 0 will be desirably employed to lock the cover C in its closed position. Nothing is claimed as new in the box orfile-case G, in the cabinet, or in its drawers B, as above described.

The filing-case O is of size adapted to rest on the bottom B of the drawer and to allow the insertion of the latter into the cabinetcase A. Said drawer C is detachably retained in or upon the drawer B by any suitable means. In the present instance and in the arrangement of the filing-case O with reference to the drawer B, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the drawer B is provided with sheet-metal stops D, one near each side of the drawer, between which stops the box or filing-case G will enter, as illustrated in said Figs. 2 and 4:. These stops Dare shown as having horizontally-projecting extremities d d,which protrude over the top of the filing-case C and serve to hold the subjacent side of the filingcase from rising off the drawer-bottom or far enough to interfere with the opening and closing of the drawer. The opposite side of the filing-case is shown to be held down to the bottom of the drawer by means of an ordinary paper-fastener E, (most clearly shown in Fig. (5,) the legs of said fastener being thrust upward through a hole in the drawer-bottom B and through the bottom of the filing-case G and bent over by the fingers, precisely as when this form of fasteners is used to connect a mass of papers. The drawer-bottom B is in the use of this device provided with a recess 1) to receive the head of each fastener E, as indicated in Fig. 6, so that the latter shall not protrude and interfere with the movement of the drawer. In Fig. two of such fasteners E are indicated by dotted lines, being situated near the inner corners of the filing-case C; but when this form of detachable fastening is employed the number may be varied at pleasure, a single fastening being in fact sufiicient to hold the filing-case upon the drawer with or without the aid of the device I). Said device D or its equivalent, however, is desirable as facilitating the application of the filing-case to the drawer by guiding it to place when the latter is without sides and back. Any other form of means for detachably retaining the filing-case in or on the drawer may be employed, since such retaining means are useful only to avoid trouble in inserting the drawer with the filing-case into the cabinet-casing and a withdrawal of the same from the latter.

In. Fig. 5 the filing-case is shown open, revea-ling the index F,with its marginal tabs or projections f bearing the index-letters in the usual way. This index will usually be of the ordinary description, consisting of a series of marginally-hideXed sheets between which the letters or papers to be filed are placed when filed.

I11 the arrangement of the filing-case with reference to the cabinet-drawer, as illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, and 5, the hinge c, by which the cover 0 of the filing-case is united to the body thereof, is parallel with the drawer-front and the dropping side 0 of the filing-case is at the back of the drawer. In Fig. 7 the filing-case is arranged with its cover-hinge c at right angles to the drawer-front and the dropping side of the filing-case is at one side of the drawer. In this case but a single cornerpiece or stop D is shown, and a single paperfastener E holds the filing-case from angular or other displacement upon the drawer-bottom.

In the use of the cabin et-file above described the papers are inserted directly into the filing-box (J in their proper places between the indeX-sheets, and when the box is filled it is bodily removed with its contents from the drawer, and (having upon its back the proper inscriptions) is put away upon the shelf with other permanent files without any disturbance of its contents. Another filingbox is applied to the drawer and is filled and removed in the same way.

It is manifest that the im u'ovement above described is of great advantage in economy of time, in cheapness of construction, and in cleanliness of the contents of the file. The drawer has no filing device permanently secured thereto, no time is occupied in transferring the index with its contents from such a fixed filing device to a permanent filingcase, and the closed box 0 excludes from its contents any dust which may enter the cabinet through the spaces between or about the drawers.

\Ve claim as our invention- 1. The combination,with a cabinet lile case, of a drawer for such case having one or more of its interior sides open, and a filing box or case containing index sheets and provided with a cover and with one dropping side, said dropping side being arranged at an open side of the cabinet drawer, substantially as described.

2. The con1bi11ation,with a cabinet file case, of a drawer for such case having one or more of its interior sides open, a filing case containing index sheets provided with a cover and with one dropping side which dropping side of the filing case is arranged at an open side of the drawer, and means for detachably holding the filing case to the drawer.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our invention we afiix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES H. BESLY. TIMOTHY J. SULLIVAN. \Vituesses M- LULA DRURY, ELEANOR DOUGLAS. 

